Three draft chapters on prophecy (section 7.1e)

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Chap. VII. Of the prophesy of the Ram and He Goate.

The four Monarchies predicted by the vision of the image composed of four metalls, & again by the four Beasts, are again predicted by that of the Ram & he Goat; the two first being represented by the Ram, & the two last by the Goat. For the Ram had two horns both of which were high, & the higher horn came up last; & this Ram having two horns is said to be the kings of Media & Persia, that is the kingdoms. The higher horn wch came up last is the kingdom of Persia, & this arose at the fall of the kingdom of Babylon; & the lower horn wch came up first is the preceding kingdom of the Medes, & this arose at the fall of the kingdom of Assyria, & is here considered from the time of the date of this prophesy wch was in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar. By the fall of the empire of the Assyrians & the division thereof between the Medes & Babylonians, the two empires of the Medes & Babylonians arose together under Cyaxeres & Nebuchadnezzar, & they are represented by the two wings of the Lyon, Dan. VII.4. And these continued standing together till that of the Medes by the conduct of Cyrus a Medo-Persian subdued that of the Babylonians, & then began it self to fall by the revolt of Cyrus & the Persians. For upon the conquest of Babylon by the Medes, Cyrus & the Persians revolted from the Medes, I think before the end of the yeare, & beat them in battel the next year; & the king of the Medes raised a new army & was again beaten the year following & lost his kingdom to Cyrus, who by that victory set the Persians above the Medes. Now in the history of the life of Daniel (Dan. I.21) its said that he continued even untill the first year of Cyrus, that is, untill the first year of his reign over Media: & afterwards (Dan. X.1) its said that he received the prophesy of the scripture of truth in the third year of Cyrus, that is in the third year of his reign over Persia. And therefore the Persians revolted two years before he conquered the Medes. He conquered Babylon Anno Nabonass. 209 & died Anno Nabonass. 218 according to the Canon of Ptolomy, & reigned seven years after his conquest of the Medes according to Xenophon, & therefore conquered them Anno Nabonass. 211. The horn therefore which rose up first, represents the kingdom of the Medes from the time of the fall of the Assyrian Empire, or at the least from the time of the third year of Belshazzar, the year in which this Prophesy was given; & the second horn represents the kingdom of the Persians which began to rise up Anno Nabonass. 290, & within two years after overcame the kingdom of the Medes.

The He-Goat had a notable horn between his eyes, & smote the Ram & brake his two horns, & waxed very great: & when he was strong the great horn was broken off, & for it came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. And these represent the same kingdoms with |ye| four wings of Daniel's third Beast. The Goat is called the king of Iavan, that is, the king of the people descended from Iavan the son of Iaphet, & is usually interpreted to signify the king of Greece, that is, the kingdom; & in the reign of his first horn it signifies the kingdom of Alexander the great & his brother Aridæus & two sons. After their reign the governours of Provinces put crowns on their \{own}/heads own heads, & thereby divided the Monarchy into smaller kingdoms the four chief of which were chief the kingdoms of Macedon Egypt Syria & Thrace. And these are represented by the four horns. And in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors are come to the full, that is, in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes when the transgressors against the holy covenant are arrived at the height; not before but in his reign, after one of them [after the kingdom of Madedon] came forth a little horn wch waxed exceeding great. For in the eighth year of Antiochus, when they had spoiled the temple, prohibited the daily worship, burnt the sacred books, & set up the religion of the heathens in all Iudea; the kingdom of Macedon, <26r> the principal horn of the four was conquered by the Romans, & the ships wchthe Romans at the time of this conquest sent with an embassy against AntiochusAntiochus Epiphanes then in Egypt, are called the ships of Kittim[1] the son of Iavan, & so belong to the body of the Goat. And if we may regard the prophesy of Balaam so far as it \is/ recited by Moses in favour of Israel, the Romans are there also called Kittim. And ships, saith he, shall come from Kittim, & shall afflict Assur & shall afflict Eber. Assur is here put for Syria. Italy was so far peopled from Greece as to be called magna Græcia, & it might be peopled originally from Kittim*[2] tho we want the history thereof.\☉/ < insertion from f 25v > ☉ For it was usual in those before the times of the Trojan war to call the people by the names of their kings \& princes./. And some a[3] tell us that Telephus the son of Hercules \& Auge/ & father of Latinus reigning in Italy changed the name of the Cetij (or posterity of Kittim) into that of Latines. < text from f 26r resumes > But it |is| sufficient to make the Romans a horn of the Goat that they are called Kittim in the prophesies of Daniel.

This horn was at first but a little one comparatively to what it became afterwards, It waxed exceeding great towards the south by conquering Afric Libya & Egypt, & towards the east by conquering Asia minor, Armenia & Syria & towards the pleasant land by conquering Iudea. It waxed great even to the host of heaven (the people of the Iews|,|) & it cast down some of the host & of the starrs to the grownd, & it stamped upon them. Yea he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, the Prince of princes(|[|Iesus Christ whom he crucified)|]|& by him the daily sacrifice was taken away & the place of his Sanctuary (the Temple) was cast down, vizt in the war which he made upon the Iews in the reign of Nero & Vespasian And the host was given over to him by the transgression against the daily sacrifice, & it cast down the truth to the grownd & it practised & prospered. For in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian the Romans built a temple to Iupiter Olympius on mount Sion where the temple of the Iews had stood, & provoked them to rebell, & made war against them with very great slaughter, & banished them from Iudæa upon pain of death, & placed the ca|r|ved statue of a hog on one of the gates of the city.

Then, saith Daniel, I heard one saint speaking, & another \saint/ said to that certain saint that spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice & the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the host sanctuary & the host to be troden under foot? And he said unto me, Vnto two thousand & three hundred|(|prophetic|)|days. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. – – For at the time of the end shall be the vision – – even at the last end of the indignation, that is, at the last end of Gods indignation against the Iews, or at the last end of the long captivity & dispersion of the Iews predicted by Moses & the prophets, which is not yet at an end. Thus the power of this last horn of the Goat became mighty but not by his own power; not by the power of Kittim or Iavan, but by that of Afric, Armenia, Syria, France, Spain, Helvetia, Dacia, & Germany conquered by Kittim.

Some take this little horn to be Antiochus Epiphanes, as if Antiochus |was|a little horn growing out of another horn, & the Goat had five horns standing up at once. But Daniel by the horns of a Beast understands not single kings but kingdoms. The ten horns of the fourth Beast were four\ten/ kingdoms, & the four ho{ns}|rn||s| of the Goat were four kingdoms, & are called kingdoms by Daniel himself, Dan. VIII.2{3}|2|. And the first horn, the great horn in the room of wchthe four came up, was of the same kind with the four. The horn after wchthe little horn came up, was one of the four: & Antiochus & his kingdom were not two horns. Each of the four horns had many kings, & Antiochus was only one of those many kings. It was at first a little one & grew mighty towards the st|o|uth & towards the east & up to the host of heaven. But Antiochus did not so. He made no conquests. The little horn magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, & cast down his sanctuary to the grownd, & so did not Antiochus. He did not cast down the Temple to the grownd, nor stand up against the Prince of princes. He only polluted the temple & took away the daily sacrifice during th{illeg}|r|ee years or 1080 days, 1 Maccab. I.20, 29, 54. He spoiled the temple two years before, but did not then take away the daily sacrifice, & the whole five years amount only to 1800 days. Before this, some Iews apostatized from the law to the heathen religion, & got a licence from the king to do after the ordinances <27r> of the heathens, & built a place at Ierusalem for their religious assemblys 1 Maccab. I.11, 13, 14. But they neither cast down the sanctuary, nor polluted it, nor took away the daily sacrifice. The little horn acted till the last end of the indignation & this indignation is not yet at an end. The sanctuary continued cast down 2300 days before it was cleansed, & days in sacred prophesy are put for years, Ezek. IV.5, 6.

Chap. VIII.|X|\10/Of the Prophesy of the seventy weeks.

The vision of the image composed of four metalls was given first to Nebuchadnezzar & then to Daniel in a dream. And Daniel began then to be celebrated for revealing of secrets, Ezek. XXVIII.3. The vision of the four Beasts \& of the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven/ was also given to Daniel in a dream. That of the Ram & the hee Goat appeared to him in the day time when he was by the bank of the river Vlay, & was explained to him by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of the host & the Prince of princes. And now in the first year of Darius the Mede over Babylon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again & explains to him what is meant by \the son of man & by/ the Prince of the host & the Prince of princes. [4] < insertion from f 27v >  The prophesy of the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven relates to the second coming of Christ, & that of the Prince of the host relates to his first coming: & this prophesy of the Messiah in explaining them {& assignes} relates to both comings, & assignes the times thereof.

< text from f 27r resumes >

This prophesy like all the rest of Daniels prophesies consists of two parts, an introductory prophesy & and an explanation thereof. The prophesy begins thus. Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy city &c These are to be dated from the time that the Iews, after their government was dissolved by the Babylonian captivity, began to be reunited into a body polytic so as to become again a people & a holy city; & this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, the year in which Ezra[5] came to Ierusalem with a solemn commission from the king to set up magistrates & judges to judge the people who know the laws of God, & to teach those that know them not, & to punish offenders against the laws of God & the king with death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment. Seventy weeks are allotted upon them to finish transgression, & \to/ make an end of sins, & to make reconciation {sic} for iniquity, & to bring in everlasting righteousness, & to seal up the vision & the prophesy & annoint the most holy. All which was accomplished by the death of Iesus Christ. And from the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus to the death of Iesus Christ were 490 years; that is, just seventy weeks, recconing seven years to a week, as is done in Gen. XXIX.27, 28. From the Hebrew word Messiah which signifies annointed; the most holy who is annointed, is in the next words called the Messiah the Prince; & this is the Prince of the host & the Prince of princes\son of man coming in the clouds of heaven/mentioned in the preceding prophesy|ies|. Know also & understand that [after his annointing & a long captivity to follow it] from the going forth of the commandment to restore & to build Ierusalem unto [the coming of] the Messiah[to reign as] the Prince, shall be seven weeks. This is the prophesy concerning \the tims {sic} of/ the coming of Christ first to be annointed & then to reign: & the interpretation distinguishes these two comings, & is as follows.

Also threscore {sic} & two weeks the street shall be built again & the wall[unto his coming: but not in prosperous times as in the seven weeks,] but in troublesome times: that is 434 years counted from the 28th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus in which the wall was finished & the gates set up according to Iosephus, unto the birth of Christ. But after|[|his coming at the end of |]|the threescore & two weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off & not reign over them [as at the end of the seven weeks,] but the people of a Prince to come [the Romans] shall destroy the city & the sanctuary, & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined[vizt in the reign of Ne{illeg}|ro|, Vespatian, & Adrian.] Yet he shall keep the covenant [that of the Iews being Gods peculiar people] with many for one week [till the calling of Gods people\Cornelius/ & the Gentiles which was seven years after his resurrection] & in half a week [or three years & an half, by the <28r> war of Nero & Vespasian] he shall cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, & with the overspreading of Abominations [in the days of Hadrian by banishing the Iews from Iudea & giving their land \to/ the heathens who overspread it with their abominations] he shall make it desolate even untill the consummation & that wch is determined shall be poured upon the desolate|[|that is, during the two thousand & three hundred years counted, I think, from the destruction of the temple: & then shall the Iews return from all nations into their own land, & the sanctuary shall be cleansed.]

<29r>

Chap. IX. Of the prophesy of the Scripture of truth.

This prophesy begins thus. And I, saith the Angel, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm & to strengthen him. And now I will shew thee the truth. Behold here shall stand up yet three kings in Persia [Cyrus, Cambyses, & Darius Hystaspis,] & the fourth [Xerxes] shall be far richer then they all, & by his strength through his riches \he/ shall stirr up all against the realm of Greece. And a mighty king [Alexander the great] shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion & do according to his will. And when he shall stand up his kingdom shall be broken & shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion wherewith he ruled. For his kingdom shall be pluckt up [for Cassander king of Macedon, Lysimachus king of Thrace, Ptolomy king of Egypt, & Seleucus king of Syria &] even for others besides those.

After this the prophetic Angel describes the actions of the kings of Syria & Egypt by the names of the kings of the north & south untill the conquest of the kingdom of Macedon by the Romans, wch was in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus began his reign in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. (1 Maccab. I.10,) & smote Egypt, & returned from thence the first time & spoiled the temple in the 143d year (1 Maccab. I.20) & after two full years, that is, in the 145t year (1 Maccab. I.29, 54) in returning from Egypt the second time, he surprized & smote Ierusalem & put a garrison therein, & interdicted the worship therein the Temple, & commanded that the Iews should leave their children uncircumcised, & that all men should be of one religion upon pain of death. And on the 15th day of the month Casleu in the same year, they set up the abomination of desolation (as the historian calls it) upon the Altar in the temple, & built idol-altars throughout the cities of Iudah, & burnt the books of the law, & commanded that those who pr|e|served them should be put to death. All this was done in the eighth year of the king.[6] And for pointing out this very remarkable period, Daniel pursues the description of the affairs of the kings of the north & south very particularly untill he comes to it, & then describes it by telling us that the king of the north shall come towardsat the time appointed shall come towards the south a second time: but the latter expedition shall not be as the former. For the ships of Chittim shall come again|st| him. Therefore he shall be grieved & return from the south, that is, from Egypt, & have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do, he shall even return out of Egypt, & have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. And when he had thus carried on the description of the affairs of the kings of the north & south to the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, he passes from the affairs of the Greeks \descended from Iavan,/to those of the Romans desended {sic} also from Iavan, & describes them by much larger steps then he had done those of the Greeks. In the prophesy of the Ram & He Goat, its said that after one of the four horns of the Goat came forth a little horn & waxed exceeding great, that is, after one of the four kingdoms of the Greeks came forth a kingdom of the Romans. And the same transition is here repeated in the following manner.

And after him arms shall stand up: that is, after Antiochus Epiphanes. As תחלך signifies after the king Dan. XI|.8,| so here מפגו signifies after him. These arms appear upon the body {illeg} of the goat by conquering Macedon, & stand up gradually by conquering Carthage & Afric, Asia, Armenia, Syria, Iudæa, France, Spain, Britain, & Egypt. And then they pollute the sanctuary of strength & take away the daily sacrifice[in the days of Nero & Vespatian] & & place the ab{illeg}|om|ination which maketh <30r> desolate [in the days of Adrian.] And they that understand among the people[the Apostles & other Christian teachers,] shall instruct many, yet they shall fall [in the heathen persecutions] by the sword & by flame & by captivity & by spoile many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help [in the reign of Constantine the great \& his sons/] but many[pretending to come over to them from the heathens] shall cleave to them with flatteries [being still heathens in their hearts & feigning themselves Christians for the sake of interest & preferment.] And some of those of understanding shall fall [by new disputes] to try them & to purge [them from the flatterers] & to make them white even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.

In the reign of Constantine the great when the Christians were holpen with a little help, the he\a/then empire began to fall, & thereby to fill the Christian \Churches/ with dissemblers. And this continued untill the reign of Iulian the Apostate, who revived the heathen empire for a year & eight months. And after his death it fell again\the heathn {sic} religion was tolerated/ untill the Emperors Gratian & Theodosius the great rejected the title of Pontifex maximus of the heathens; which put an end to it in the Roman government.

And the king shall do according to his will & he shall exalt & magnify himself above every God, & shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods [the ancient of days,] & shall prosper till the indignation [or long captivity of the Iews] be accomplished. For that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers [those who were holpen with a little help] nor the desire of weomen [in lawfull matrimony, but set up the profession of Moncks & Nunns,] nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself [or\preferring/ his own will] above all. And in his estate shall he honour Mahuzzims, [potent saints, the souls of dead men] together with a strange God [a new God] whom his fathers{illeg}|[|those who were holpen with a little help] knew not, shall he honour them[with gold & silver, & with pretious stones, & valuable things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds [or temples of his Gods] with a strange God, whom he shall acknowledge & increase with glory, & cause themto rule [the Mahuzzims] to rule over many, & Divide [among them] the land for a patrimony.

And at the time of the end shall the king of the south [or Empire of the Saracens] push at him. And the king of the north [the empire of the Turks] shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots & horsmen & with many ships; & [by conquering Constantinople A.C. 1453] he shall enter into the countries & shall overflow & pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land [of Iudea,] & many countries [in those parts] shall be overflown. But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom |& Moab &|the chief of the children of Ammon [to whom his Caravans in their way to Mecca pay tribute.] He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the co\u/ntries; & the land of Egyp|t| shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of Gold & silver & over all the pretious things of Egypt. And the Libyans & the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

But tidings out of the east & out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy & utterly to make away \many/. And he shall plant the tabernacle of his p{l}alace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain: yet he shall come to his end [in the battel of the great day] & none shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince wch standeth for the children of thy people, [the Prince of Princes with a two-edged sword] & there shall be a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And \at/ that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book. And many that sleep in the <31r> sleep in the {sic} dust shall awake some to everlasting life & some to shame & everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, & they that turn many to righteousness as the starrs for ever & ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words & seale the book even to the time of the end. This is that book wch in the visions of Iohn the Apostle was sealed with seven seales, & which the Lamb of God took out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne to open the seals thereof. And then many shall run to & fro [the two witnesses at the time of the end] & knowledge shall be increased.

Then I Daniel looked & behold there stood other two, one on this side of the bank of the river & the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man cloathed in linnen who was upon the waters of the river. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man cloathed in linnen who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand & his f left hand up|n|to heaven, & sware by him that liveth for ever & ever, that it shall be for a time times & an half. This is the duration of the reign of the last horn of Daniel's fourth beast. And therefore the affairs of that horn are included in this Prophesy. And[after this] when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people [by bringing them back out of all nations into Iudea] then all these things shall be finished.

And I heard but I understood not. Then said I: O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way Daniel, For the words are closed up & sealed till the time of the end. Many shall[then] be purified & made white & tryed|[|by persecutions] & these are the two witnesses.] And none of the wicked\[in power]/shall understand\[because it is against them]/: but the wise\[under persecution]/shall understand. And from the time that the daily worship [not only that of the Iews, but that also of the converted Gentiles] shall be taken away, so as to set up the [great] abominationof desolationwch maketh desolate [untill he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people] there shall be a thousand two hundred & ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth & cometh to the thousand three hundred & five & thirty days. But go thou thy way [Daniel] till the end be. For thou shalt rest, & stand in thy lot [amongst those that awake out of the dust] at the end of the days.

[1] Kittim is a plurall & signifies ye children of Kit or some {such} name or Son of Iavan